Yesterday we got the amazing news that Seasca was missing in action presumed dead. Now she may well be but I find myself really very puzzled by it all as the more I think about it the less convinced I am that the evidence shows this.
At the second last update I had no worries whatsoever. A well fed juvenile osprey on her first migration what could go wrong. Well unfortunately lots can often go wrong but there are usually clues as to the reason.
If I had one concern it was that she was losing out in the fish war on the nest. However Mallachie in 2009 was losing out in the fish war and she got to Africa no trouble.
In times like this people are usually only too willing to blame the tracker. I am very reluctant to blame the tracker but in this case it may well be the only explanation.
Firstly it may be delayed data. We know that can and does happen. So on Thursday the missing data may turn up. Not as unlikely as you might think.
So if no data does turn up then it is time to look to other reasons.
In November 2012 Blue 44 was an incredibly well fed bird heading toward Africa when he simply disappeared without trace. Now that seems the closest parallel with the present case. Again not a hint of an explanation why. Was it a tracker problem or did Blue 44 come to catastrophic harm?
Well that has got this started and see what parallels we can come up with.
Tiger Signature
Unknown said:I believe many other cases can be found of ospreys successfully overflying the sea
Yes there are lots of cases of ospreys flying over the sea at night. The thing is that they do not have a choice. Nimrod is the only case I know of where an osprey has chosen to fly at night of his own volition.
Young ospreys are capable of the most amazing journeys. My all time favourite is Belle in the USA. Surely the world champion of ospreys. She flew from New England to South America in seven days. Then well into Brazil. She will soon be starting on her fourth autumn migration most likely by a less dangerous route than her first one.
I am not an expert on migratory aspects but would like to hope that there has been a blip and that all will be well when the readings come in tomorrow. If, for some reason, there is no data on Seasca, then we have to assume that she is missing which will be a tragedy but we all know these things can happen, especially in their 1st year which includes migrating to Africa. Lets all try and stay possitive.
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/
RSPB Giving Nature a Home
Just a thought If Seasca is missing could it mean that something has happened in Spain. We are all speculating on the Bay but if data is 3 days apart then couldn't she have successfully made landfall and then something happened????????
patily said:Just a thought If Seasca is missing could it mean that something has happened in Spain.
That is true. Something could have happened after she arrived in Spain.
The odd thing is that the tracker went dead. That is a very rare occurrence. I can only think of three times when that has happened for British ospreys.
It did happen for Lalli a Finnish osprey and he turned up alive and well.
Tiger if I remember correctly, at work so can't check through blogs, but prior to blue44's tracker going completely dead it had been malfunctioning a bit in the days prior to that.
Of course there is a fourth osprey whose tracker went dead and that is Blue YD's but it is felt that he is probably fine.
Who are the other the others apart from YD and 44 Tiger?
Lmac REd8T for one and Morven. Morven's transmitter was dodgy for a couple of years and went completely dead last year. Both birds still fine as we know.
We can't but hope she is ok.